Tunisian Army

Tunisian Army جيش البر التونسي Jaîsh el-Barr et'Tunsi
Seal of the Tunisian Land Army
Founded	1831
Country	Tunisia
Size	27,000 personnel
Part of	Tunisian Armed Forces
HQ	Tunis
Nickname(s)	TAF
Engagements	Bizerte Crisis Yom Kippur War Battle of Wazzin Chaambi Operations Battle of Ben Guerdane
Commanders
Commander	Brigadier Ismaïl Fathali

The Tunisian Land Army is the ground component of the Armée nationale tunisienne. The Land Forces Command is located in Bizerte. The TAF itself was created on June 30, 1956.

The Land Army is the largest service branch within the Tunisian Armed Forces and has a dominant presence in the current General Staff. It is estimated to number around 27,000, in addition to 39,000 reservists for a total of 66,000 strong.

The modern army was created in the 1830s. It has seen substantive combat on one occasion: against France during the 1961 Bizerte Crisis.

The mission of the Tunisian army is to defend the country against any foreign attack, to allow the development of a diplomatic counterattack and encourage the involvement of the United Nations, protect Tunisian nationals around the world and participate in peacekeeping missions.

The modern Tunisian army was formed in 1831 by Al-Husayn II ibn Mahmud.

The first battalions of the regular modern Tunisian army were created at the same time as the reform of the Ottoman army and after the French conquest of Algeria in 1830.

At the initiative of Minister of Hussein Bey II, Mamluk Shakir Saheb Ettabaâ, a battalion of Tunisians was established in Tunis in January 1831. The next year, another battalion was raised, composed mainly of Sahelians and based in Sousse. Soldiers and officers were trained, equipped and dressed in European fashion, like the first regiments of the Ottoman army after the reforms of Sultan Mahmud II which followed the removal of the Janissary Corps. Ahmed Bey I built on the initial reforms of the reign of his uncle, Hussein Bey II and initiated more extensive changes in both the Tunisian army and state.

By 1855 the Tunisian army was divided into seven infantry brigades spread throughout the country as listed below. Each was under the command of an Amir Liwa (Brigadier-General). From 1864 an Amir Oumar (General of Division was appointed). The numbers of each brigade varies from 1 000 to 2 000 men at different times.

Also available from 1835 to 1860 were four artillery brigades (topjiya) of 1000 men each, distributed as follows:

The Army also had several Tunisian irregular regiments made up of Berber tribal levies (or Zouaoua mkhaznia) spread across the country. The full strength of these irregular units reached up to 40,000 infantry and cavalry. They were based mainly in barracks at Kef, Nefza and Tunis, and were commanded by Turkish Mamluks. When the need for a regular cavalry regiment (spahis) arose, Ahmed Bey I created one regiment in 1850, based in Manouba.